Wheeled toy

ABSTRACT

A soft resilient wheeled toy formed of a body of foamed resilient compressible material and relatively wide wheels of the same material which are secured to the body by hubs and axle members which do not extend outwardly to the outer surfaces of the wheels. Because of the construction, there are no hard surfaces to engage furniture or the user of the toy. The wheels are preferably of a width at least one-fifth of the width of the body of the toy. The toy may simulate in appearance any of various automotive vehicles or it may simulate some animal such as a worm. In the latter case, the body may consist of two parts pivotally connected together with at least one wheel adjacent the pivotal connection and eccentrically mounted so that as the toy is moved along, the body parts move with respect to each other.

United States Patent [191 Manning WHEELED TOY [76] lnventor: Raymond J.Manning, 450 Edmund Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 55103 22 Filed: Oct. 16, 197221 Appl. No.: 297,946

Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner.l. Q. LeverAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Frederick E. Lange 1451 Sept. 17, 1974 157ABSTRACT A soft resilient wheeled toy formed of a body of foamedresilient compressible material and relatively wide wheels of the samematerial which are secured to the body by hubs and axle members which donot extend outwardly to the outer surfaces of the wheels. Because of theconstruction, there are no hard surfaces to engage furniture or the userof the toy. The wheels are preferably of a width at least one-fifth ofthe width of the body of the toy. The toy may simulate in appearance anyof various automotive vehicles or it may simulate some animal such as aworm. In the latter case, the body may consist of two parts pivotallyconnected together with at least one wheel adjacent the pivotalconnection and eccentrically mounted so that as the toy is moved along,the body parts move with respect to each other.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures WHEELED TOY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONWheeled toys of various types are extremely old and have been sold formany years. Probably the most popular wheeled toy since the advent ofthe automobile is some toy simulating an automobile in generalappearance. There have also been wheeled toys in which the body of thetoy resembled some animal such as a horse or dog. In almost all cases,however, either the body member or an axle member extending through thewheels is made of some relatively hard material. In some cases, thewheels likewise are made of hard material. Even where the body andwheels have been made of some relatively yieldable material such asrubber it has been customary to extend an axle through the wheels sothat the ends of the axle present hard surfaces. The drawback of such atoy is that if a child falls on the toy, the hard surface presented bythe body of the toy or the end of the axles can cause severe injury,particularly if for example, it engages the childs eye. Similarly, evenwhen such toys are used in the manner intended, that is, by being shovedor pulled on their wheels, they are apt to hit furniture and causedamage to it. Often, such vehicles are sent across the room at fairlyhigh speed or even thrown. Children are often prone to pick up toys andthrow them either playfully or in a fit of anger. One reason that axleshave customarily extended through the wheel of the toy is that anattempt is being made to simulate as nearly as possible the object whichthe toy is designed to represent. Customarily, automobile wheels arerelatively narrow and the axle basically extends to the outer surface ofthe wheel. With narrow wheels, it is impractical to have an adequatebearing surface for the wheel without having the hub or axle extendthrough the wheel.

Furthermore, even where such toys have been made of resilient material,the resilient materials employed are normally relatively uncompressibleso that even though they do not cause the damage to the furniture or tothe user, as would be the case if they are made of wood or metal, theystill can cause injury to objects with which they come in contact,particularly when they are propelled at very high speeds or thrown.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The present invention is concerned witha soft resilient wheeled toy formed of a body of foamed, resilient,readily compressible material and relatively wide wheels of the samematerial, the wheels being supported on the body portion by hubs andaxle members which do not extend outwardly to the outer surfaces of thewheels. In this way, all of the outer surfaces of the wheeled toy aresoft and compressible and nodamage can result from the wheeled toy evenwhen it is thrown or propelled at high speed.

The wheels are preferably of a width at least one-fifth of the body ofthe toy. These very wide wheels have several advantages. In the firstplace, they enable the insertion of hub members and axles therein whichdo not extend to the outer surface of the wheels and yet which stillprovide adequate bearing surfaces for rotatably supporting the wheels.In the second place, by the use of relatively wide wheels, the wheelsdefine an area of engagement with a supporting plane or surface which ismuch greater than any such area of engagement which includes theportions of the body surface. As a result the vehicle when thrown tendsto land on its wheels. If it lands in any other position, the resiliencyof the material will cause it to bounce and it will tend to right itselfin a position in which it is resting on the wheels.

Each wheel contains a hub member which is secured against removal fromthe axle member. This may be accomplished either by a tight frictionalfit, by adhesive or by some enlarged head at the end of the axle whichcan be forced through the opening in the hub member but which preventswithdrawal of the axle member from the hub member.

The foamed material is preferably provided with some bearing surfaceadjacent the opening through which the axle passes. This may either beprovided by fusing the material adjacent the axle opening or byinserting a sleeve into this opening, which sleeve has an internal boreof the proper diameter to receive the axle member. Where the material isfused adjacent the axle opening, this can be accomplished by forming theaxle opening by forcing a hot rod through the foam rubber material atthe desired location of the axle opening.

It is preferable to provide some circular disc adjacent the oppositesides of the body portion and surrounding the axle. Such circular discsaid in proper support of the axle in the foamed material.

While the wheeled toy preferably takes the form of some automotivevehicle such as a passenger car, a truck or a racer, the wheeled toy maybe in the form of some animal, such as a worm. In one embodiment of myinvention, the body comprises two sections which are articulated about ahorizontal pivot point and is provided with eccentrically mounted wheelsadjacent the pivot point so that as the toy is moved along a supportingsurface, the pivot point moves up and down to cause an undulatingmovement of the worm. Other objects and features of the invention willbe apparent from a consideration of the accompanying specification,claims and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toyautomobile made in accordance with my invention; t

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of the vehicle takenalong the line 22 of FIG. 1 and in the direction of the arrows adjacentthat line;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view taken along the same sectional plane asFIG. 2 but showing a modified means for supporting the wheel axle;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of one of. the wheels showing a modified formof wheel;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of my wheeled toy in which the toy isdesigned to simulate a worm; and

FIG. 6 is a top plane view of the worm of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, theautomobile there shown includes a body member 11, wheels l2, l3 and 14,and a fourth wheel not shown. The body portion 11 and all of the wheelsare formed of a foamed, resilient, highly compressible material such asa foamed polyurethene. Such a material may for example be of the typedescribed in Buff et al., Pat. No. 3,296,658. It should be highlycompressible. For example, a ball made of this material and having adiameter of about 3 and inches, requires less than 2 pounds pressure tocompress the ball to 1 inch in thickness, when placed between two flatplates. While I have shown the body 11 as resembling the body of apassenger sedan, it is to be understood that the device may take form ofany other automotive vehicle such as a truck, station wagon or racer. Itwill also be noted that there is shown on the body 11 various elementstypical to such an automotive vehicle such as headlights 18, awindshield 19 and a door 20. These features and other similar featuresare merely represented by lines applied to the foam material, the foammaterial being simply a solid block of material which has preferablybeen cut to the desired shape. Where it is not desired to as closelysimulate the appearance of the vehicle, the vehicle may simply have ashape resembling the vehicle in question without any additionalornamentation or lines applied thereto. In such case, the shape of thevehicle is suggestive of the type of vehicle which it is desired tosimulate. It is desirable that both the body and wheels be cut to thedesired shape, rather than being molded, since this produces an openpore outer surface which is softer and more yieldable. Where the bodyand wheels are molded, the outer surface is in the form of a skin whichis firmer than the open pore outer surface existing when the material iscut.

Referring to FIG. 2, and particularly to wheel 13, it will be noted thatthere is a hub member 22 disposed in the wheel. This hub member has aflange 23 and a shank portion 24. The hub member also has an internalbore which has a diameter corresponding to the diameter of an axlemember 26 extending into the hub member 22. The hub member 22 may besecured within the wheel 13 in any of various manners. For ex.- ample,an opening corresponding to the hub member 22 may be drilled by firstdrilling an opening corresponding to the diameter of the shank memberand then by undercutting the opening to accommodate the flange 23. Thematerial of wheel 13 is sufficiently soft so that it is then possible bydistorting the material to insert the hub member 22 in position. Ifdesired a suitable adhesive may be employed to additionally hold the hubmember into position. It will of course be appreciated that the flange23 already acts to retain the hub member 24 against axial movement.

Wheel 14 has a similar hub member 28. It will be noted that with bothhub members 22 and 28 the inner portion of each hub member terminatesadjacent the inner surface of the wheels 13 or 14, as the case may be.The outer extremities of these hub members 22 and 28, however, terminateat a point substantially spaced from the outer walls 29 of wheel members13 and 14. Thus, even though the hub members 22 and 28 are made ofrelatively hard material as compared with the material of the body orthe wheels, the end portions of such hub members are spaced inwardly asubstantial distance so that these hub members cannot possibly contacteither a person or an article of furniture engaged by the toy.

The axle member 26, previously referred to, extends through a bore 27 inthe body portion 11. The ends of this axle member extend into the bore25 in the hub member 22 and into a similar bore in hub member 28. In theform shown, the axle member 26 is either tightly frictionally secured tothe hub member 22 or is adhesively secured thereto. In any event, thehub members 22 and 28cannot be readily removed from the axle member 26.The bore 27 may be formed by forcing a hot rod through the foamedmaterial causing it to fuse as the rod is moved through the material.This has the advantage of closing the pores of the material adjacent thewall of the passage 27, thus making the wall smoother and denser so asto provide a better bearing surface for the axle member 26.

It will be noted that the length of the axle member 26 is substantiallyless than the distance between the outer walls of hub members 22 and 28.Thus, neither the hub members nor the axle project outwardly to a pointwhere they will engage an object with which the wheels 13 and 14 come incontact. In other words, the material of the wheels beyond the hubs andaxle acts as a cushion.

The hub members 24 and 28 and the axle may be made of some realtivelysoft plastic such as Nylon. In spite of the fact that a soft plastic isused for these members, its compressibility is very limited and it cancause damage to an object with which it comes in contact if the speed ofimpact is sufficiently great. Hence the arrangement of the presentinvention is desirable in preventing such direct contact with anexterior object even though the axle and hub members are formed ofrelatively soft materials as compared with conventional metals.

Secured around the axle member 26 are a plurality of circular discmembers 30 and 31. These are cemented to the body member i1 and act tofurther sup port the axle member 26 and to position it with respect tothe foamed material Ill.

While I have described the axle and hub construction only in connectionwith wheels 13 and M, it is to be un derstood that the same type ofaxle, hub and wheel construction is employed in connection with the tworemaining wheels, only 12 of which is shown in the drawmg.

In connection with FIG. 2, I have referred to the bearing surface foraxle member 26 as being provided by fusing the material adjacent to thepassage 27. Where the passage 27 is drilled, it may be desirable, asshown in FIG. 3, to provide a liner sleeve 33 which may be formed of asuitable metal or of a low friction plastic. In such case, the passage27 is made of sufficiently larger internal diameter to provide for theinsertion of a sleeve 33 which will have an internal diameter slightlygreater than the external diameter of the axle member 26.

I have referred to the hub members 22 and 28 as being secured within thewheels 13 and 14 by providing an undercut passage to fit the flange 23and then distorting the material to insert the hub members in thewheels. Instead of doing this, it is possible to make the wheel in twosections as has been illustrated in FIG. 41 in connection with amodified wheel 35. The wheel in this case comprises two sections 36 and37. Section 36 has a bore therethrough of a size to accommodate theshank of hub member 39. Section 37 has a larger bore to accommodate theflange M of the hub 32 These two sections are fastened together by asuitable adhesive and function collectively in the same manner as theunitary wheels 13 and 14 of FIG. 2. In the modification of FIG. 4, Ialso employ a somewhat different method for securing the axle member 40in the member 39. In the modification of FIG. 2, the axle member 26 wasretained in the hub member 22 and 28 by either adhesive or a tightfrictional fit. In the arrangement of FIG. 4,

the axle member is provided with a conical head 43 which has a diameterat its base slightly larger than the passage through the hub 39. Becausethe axle member is made of a relatively soft material, such as Nylon, itis possible to force the axle through the opening in hub 39. Once it isthrough, however, the base of the conical head 43 prevents the axle frombeing withdrawn. Or, starting matters differently, it prevents the wheel35 from being withdrawn from axle 40.

As has been pointed out above, the wheels are of a width at leaseone-fifth of the width of the body of the toy. Furthermore, the wheelsare disposed entirely outside of the outer side walls of the bodyportion. The wheels thus define an area of engagement with a supportingplane or surface which is much greater than any such area of engagementwhich includes portions of the body surface. Furthermore, the onlyexposed surfaces are made of the soft, resilient material of which thebody and wheels are made. Thus, as pointed out previously, the vehiclewhen thrown tends to land on its wheels. If it lands in any otherposition, the resiliency of the material of the body and wheels willcause the toy to bounce and tend to right itself in a position in whichit is resting on the wheels.

While the preferred embodiment of my invention is designed to simulatean automotive vehicle, it is possible to employ my invention to simulateobjects such as animals. In FIGS. 5 and 6, I have shown an embodiment ofmy invention in which a worm is simulated. In this case, a furtherfeature is introduced in that there are two sections of the body whichare moved with respect to each other as the toy is moved along a smoothsurface. Referring specifically to FIGS. 5 and 6, the body portion 50has two sections 51 and 52 designed to simulate the front and rearsections of a worm. These sections are made of the same type of soft,resilient, highly compressible foam as the body portion 11 of theautomobile of FIG. 1. Both sections 50 and 52 are of rectangular crosssection although they are curved in a longitudinal direction to bettersimulate the curved position a worm may assume. The front section 51 isprovided at its rear with a flange 53 which fits into a slot 54 at thefront end of the rear section 52. The slot 54 results in two flanges 55and 56 between which the tongue 53 extends. An axle member 57 extendsthrough aligned openings in the tongue 53 and the flanges 55 and 56.Secured to the outer end of axle member 57 are a pair of wheels 58 and59. These wheels may be secured to the axle member 57 in the same manneras depicted in FIGS. 2 and 4. In other words, there are hub memberswhich are secured within the wheel and through which the axle member 57extends and is secured. As shown in dotted lines, the axle member 57 andthe hub members do not extend to the outer walls of wheels 58 and 59.Like the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4, the wheels 58 and 59 are relativelywide and may have a width actually exceeding the width of the bodymembers 51 and 52. Certainly, in all cases the wheels 58 and 59 willhave a width exceeding percent of the body portion, as in the case withthe embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 4. The forward section 51 of the bodymember 50 is provided with a pair of wide wheels 61 and 62 and the rearsection 52 is provided with a set of wheels 63 and 64. All of the wheelsare of foamed resilient, highly compressible material just as were thewheels of the preferred embodiment. These wheels are also all providedwith axle members which extend only partially through the wheels andwhich are secured to the wheels in the same manner as has been describedin connection with Wheels l3, l4 and 35 of the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to4.

Wheels 61, 62, 63 and 64, like wheels 12, 13 and 14 are circular and theaxles associated with these wheels are concentric therewith. Wheels 58and 59, however, are eccentrically mounted with respect to axle 57.Furthermore, the wheels 58 and 59 are oval instead of circular. As isshown in FIG. 5, the distance from the axle to the point on wheel58contacting the supporting surface is substantially greater than thedistance from the axle to the diametrically opposite point on the wheelwhich is shown as being uppermost in FIG. 5. As the toy is movedforwardly, a condition will be reached in which this condition isreversed. In other words, the distance between the axle and the point ofcontact of the wheel with the ground will be much less than the distancebetween the axle and the upper diametrically opposite point of thewheel. The result is that the axle 57 moves vertically up and down asthe toy is moved forwardly. Since the axle 57 extends through thepivotal connection of body sections 51 and 52 with each other, it willbe obvious that sections 51 and 52 are continually rocked with respectto each other, rocking about the forward and rear axles of thosesections. The result will be that as the toy is propelled forward, thetwo sections will imitate a crawling action of a worm.

CONCLUSION It will be seen that I have provided a wheeled toy in whichall exposed surfaces are of a foamed soft, resilient, highlycompressible material. Thus, the toy may be either propelled violentlyor even thrown with no damage to the child playing with the toy, tofurniture,

or to other children. Even if the child falls upon the vehicle, nodamage can result to the child. The toy is furthermore extremely simpleand can be produced with a minimum of expense.

While I have shown certain specific embodiments of my invention, it isto be understood that this is only for purposes of illustration and thatthe scope of my invention is limited solely by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A soft, resilient wheeled toy comprising:

a body portion comprising a block of a soft, foamed, resilientcompressible material formed to simulate the body of a normally movableobject,

a plurality of pairs of relatively wide wheels formed of the samematerial as that of which said body portion is formed, and disposed onopposite sides of said body portion,

each of said wheels having a hub member therein of relativelynon-compressible material, each of said hub members being secured withinits associated wheel concentrically with the axis of revolution andextending from a region adjacent the inner wall of the wheel andterminating at a region spaced from the outer wall of the wheel, andeach of said hub members having a cylindrical passage therein, and

an axle member extending through said body member and into thecylindrical passages of the hub members of opposed wheels and secured tosaid hub members, said axle being of a length substantially less thanthe distance between the outer walls of the opposed wheels so that theouter terminal portions of said axle are spaced a substantial distanceinwardly from the outer walls of the wheels, so that all of theoutwardly exposed portions of said toy are of said soft, foamedresilient compressible material,

each of said wheels being of a width at least equal to one-fifth of thewidth of the body and in which the wheels are disposed entirely outsideof the outer side walls of the body portion so that the wheels define anarea of engagement with a supporting planar surface which is muchgreater than any such area of engagement which includes a surface of thebody portion so that when said toy is dropped onto a surface, thebouncing of the toy resulting from the necessary engagement of a soft,resilient portion of either said body or said wheels with said surfacewill tend to result in said toy coming to rest in a position in whichsaid wheels all engage said surface.

2. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which the body portion simulates thebody of an automobile and in which there are two pairs of wheels.

3. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which the body portion comprises twoparts which are pivotally joined together for pivotal movement about asubstantially horizontal pivotal axis and in which there are a pair ofwheels secured to said body portion adjacent the pivotal connections ofthe two parts thereof, the axle member on which said wheels aresupported being eccentric with respect to said wheels so that as saidtoy is moved along a supporting surface, the pivotal connection of saidtwo parts moves up and down.

4. The wheeled toy of claim 3 in which the two parts of the body portionare shaped to resemble portions of a worm.

5. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which said body member has a passagetherethrough for said axle memher in which the material of said passageis partially fused to provide a bearing surface for said axle member.

6. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which said body member has a passagetherethrough for said axle member and in which there is a sleeve memberin said passage through which said axle member extends.

7. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which there are circular discssurrounding said axle member and disposed adjacent the side walls ofsaid body portion where the axle member enters said body portion.

8. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which each of said hub members has anoutwardly extending flange which acts in retaining said hub member inposition in the wheel.

1. A soft, resilient wheeled toy comprising: a body portion comprising ablock of a soft, foamed, resilient compressible material formed tosimulate the body of a normally movable object, a plurality of pairs ofrelatively wide wheels formed of the same material as that of which saidbody portion is formed, and disposed on opposite sides of said bodyportion, each of said wheels having a hub member therein of relativelynon-compressible material, each of said hub members being secured withinits associated wheel concentrically with the axis of revoluation andextending from a region adjacent the inner wall of the wheel andterminating at a region spaced from the outer wall of the wheel, andeach of said hub members having a cylindrical passage therein, and anaxle member extending through said body member and into the cylindricalpassages of the hub members of opposed wheels and secured to said hubmembers, said axle being of a length substantially less than thedistance between the outer walls of the opposed wheels so that the outerterminal portions of said axle are spaced a substantial distanceinwardly from the outer walls of the wheels, so that all of theoutwardly exposed portions of said toy are of said soft, foamedresilient compressible material, each of said wheels being of a width atleast equal to one-fifth of the width of the body and in which thewheels are disposed entirely outside of the outer side walls of the bodyportion so that the wheels define an area of engagement with asupporting planar surface which is much greater than any such area ofengagement which includes a surface of the body portion so that whensaid toy is dropped onto a surface, the bouncing of the toy resultingfrom the necessary engagement of a soft, resilient portion of eithersaid body or said wheels with said surface will tend to result in saidtoy coming to rest in a position in which said wheels all engage saidsurface.
 2. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which the body portionsimulates the body of an automobile and in which there are two pairs ofwheels.
 3. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which the body portioncomprises two parts which are pivotally joined together for pivotalmovement about a substantially horizontal pivotal axis and in whichthere are a pair of wheels secured to said body portion adjacent thepivotal connections of the two parts thereof, the axle member on whichsaid wheels are supported being eccentric with respect to said wheels sothat as said toy is moved along a supporting surface, the pivotalconnection of said two parts moves up and down.
 4. The wheeled toy ofclaim 3 in which the two parts of the body portion are shaped toresemble portions of a worm.
 5. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which saidbody member has a passage therethrough for said axle member in which thematerial of said passage is partially fused to provide a bearing surfacefor said axle member.
 6. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which said bodymember has a passage therethrough for said axle member and in whichthere is a sleeve member in said passage through which said axle memberextends.
 7. The wheeled toy of claim 1 in which there are circular discssurrounding said axle member and disposed adjacent the side walls ofsaid body portion where the axle member enters said body portion.
 8. Thewheeled toy of claim 1 in which each of said hub members hAs anoutwardly extending flange which acts in retaining said hub member inposition in the wheel.